Conventionally, a sheet article such as a document or a photo is usually covered with a protective film for protection because such a sheet article is readily suffered from damage. Typically, a sheet laminating apparatus (or a laminator) is used for heating and pressing a sheet article between two pieces of heat-activated films in order to achieve the protective purpose. Hereinafter, the configurations and the operation principles of a conventional sheet laminating apparatus will be illustrated with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional sheet laminating apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet laminating apparatus 1 comprises a heat-treating mechanism 10, a transmitting and pressing mechanism 11 and a transfer passage 12. The heat-treating mechanism 10 includes a heater 101 and an electrically-heated plate 102.
The process for laminating a sheet article (not shown) by using the sheet laminating apparatus 1 will be described as follows. First of all, the sheet article is sandwiched between an upper heat-activated film and a lower heat-activated film of a pouch to form a sandwich structure. Then, the sandwich structure is fed into the transfer passage 12 through an entrance 121. By means of the transmitting and pressing mechanism 11, the sandwich structure is continuously transported through the passage 12. During this stage, the electrically-heated plate 102 of the heat-treating mechanism 10 transforms electricity to heat energy so as to preheat the sandwich structure. The heat energy generated by the electrically-heated plate 102 is uniformly distributed over the heater 101, and radiated through an air gap between the heater 101 and the transmitting and pressing mechanism 11 so as to heat up the transmitting and pressing mechanism 10. The transmitting and pressing mechanism 11 presses against opposite sides of the sandwich structure that is transported through the transfer passage 12, and transmits the heat energy to the sandwich structure so as to soften the heat-activated films. After being transmitted and pressed (or laminated) by the transmitting and pressing mechanism 11, the sheet article bonds with the softened heat-activated films to form a laminate structure. Meanwhile, the sheet article is fixed between these two pieces of heat-activated films. After the laminated sandwich structure is withdrawn from an exit 122 of the transfer passage 12, the laminating operation of the sheet laminating apparatus 1 is completed.
Generally, the upper heat-activated film and the lower heat-activated film of the pouch are connected with each other such that one side of the pouch is sealed. For laminating a sheet article between two films of the pouch, the rear ends of these two films are firstly separated from each other, then the sheet article is inserted into the space between the two films, and finally the combination of the sheet article and the films is laminated by the sheet laminating apparatus 1. Moreover, for laminating a plurality of sheet articles by the sheet laminating apparatus 1, the sheet articles should be successively inserted into respective pouches. The procedure of successively inserting the sheet articles into respective pouches is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Moreover, since the sheet article is manually inserted into the space between the two films of the pouch, the alignment precision of the sheet article in relation to the pouch is deteriorated and the combination of the sheet article and the pouch is not aesthetically pleasing.